The Battle of Fornovo (6 July 1495) was a battle of the Italian War of 1494-98 that was fought between the armies of King Charles VIII of France and the League of Venice, consisting of the armies of Venice, Milan, and Mantua, commanded by Francesco II Gonzaga. The battle was inconclusive, with the French being temporarily expelled from the Italian peninsula as a result of the battle.
Background[]
In 1494, King Charles VIII of France invaded Italy with the goal of claiming the throne of the Kingdom of Naples from King Alfonso II of Naples. He left destruction and atrocities in his wake, with the most infamous being the Sack of Lucca. Pope Alexander VI deceived him into leaving Rome alone, and he invested him with the throne of Naples, abandoning the alliance with Naples that he had forged through the marriage of his son Joffre Borgia with Princess Sancia of Naples. King Charles found nothing but the plague when he entered Naples, and he felt that the Pope had betrayed him. After having King Alfonso II tracked down, tortured, and executed for allegedly starting the plague in the city, King Charles marched back north, intending on avenging his sickness from the plague. Pope Alexander was now greeted by his former enemy, Duke Ludovico Sforza of Milan, who sought the Pope's blessing to form an alliance against the French, who he had previously invited to invade Italy. Sforza and Francesco II Gonzaga rallied armies to fight against France, and the Pope gave Francesco Gonzaga his blessing to drive the French from Italy in exchange for all of the booty claimed by Gonzaga's army during the upcoming battle.
The two armies would meet at Fornovo, and the French had the clear advantage, as they had a large supply of cannons and gunpowder, as well as better-trained troops. The League forces believed that they were going to lose, but Gonzaga demanded battle for honor's sake. Pope Alexander did nothing to oppose this, believing that a weakened House of Sforza and a weakened Kingdom of France would benefit the power of the Borgia papacy. In July 1495, the two sides met in battle.
Battle[]
On the night of 5 July 1495, the Pope's son Cesare Borgia and a few masked condottieri, including Rhodente Orsini, Carlo Baglione, and Battista Colonna, decided to launch an attack on the French encampment to assist the League forces. The condottieri, who had previously ambushed the Gascon Scouts and discovered the location of the King's gunpowder scores from the survivors, rode into the French camp at night, wearing black masks to conceal their eyes. They proceeded to set fires near the gunpowder stores, and the French camp was rocked by explosions. The League forces initially believed the explosions to have been caused by the lightning that night, as it was rainy. That next morning, the League forces charged into battle. Gonzaga was wounded in the leg by an arrrow, but the League forces repelled the French, who were now without cannon. Half of the French army, in addition to all of the French army's plunder, was lost at Fornovo, but the French king succeeded in his goal of retreating to France with his army intact. The League forces claimed a victory, saying that they had driven the French from Italy, but they suffered higher losses, including many nobles, and the French were able to return in force years later.